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REPORT OF 



Lincoln Highway Commission 



TO 



Governor Samuel M. Ralston 



DECEMBER 15, 1916 



Joseph M. Cravens, Chairman 
Jesse Weik, Secretary 



D, of D. 

FEB 5 1917 



REPORT OF 



_L- 



Lincoln Highway Commission 



TO 



Governor Samuel M. Ralston 
December 15, 1916 



Commission Appointed to Determine the Route Traveled 

Through Indiana by Abraham Lincoln and his 

Father's Family when they Removed 

TO Illinois in 1S30 



OFFICERS OF THE COMMISSION 

Joseph M. Cravens, Chairman, Madison 
Jesse W. Weik, Secretary, Greencastle 



"^ Indianapolis, Ind., Dec. 15, 1916. 

"^ Hon. Samuel M. Ralston, 

r^ Governor of Indiana. 

SIR: 

The undersigned having been directed b}^ you to "determine 
the route through Indiana traveled by Abraham Lincoln and 
his father's family when they emigrated to Illinois in 1830," 
beg leave to submit herewith the following report: 
i^^^The first definite step in the movement to trace the proposed 
route between Mr. Lincoln's birth place in Kentuck}'- and his 
home in Illinois was the following resolution adopted by the legis- 
lature of Kentucky in the year 1910: 

"The name of the public road leading from Louisville* 
Kentucky, to Elizabethtown, Kentucky, known as the 
Louisville and Nashville pike, and from Ehzabethtown, 
Kentucky, through Hodgenville, Kentucky, to the Lincoln 
Farm in Larue County, Kentucky, shall be changed to the 
Lincoln Way, and said road from Louisville to the Lincoln 
Farm shall hereafter be designated and known as the 
'Lincoln Way.' " 

Within a year the legislature of Illinois adopted the following 
resolution : 

"WHEREAS, the people of the state of Illinois ever 
mindful of their deep and lasting obligation to Abraham 
Lincoln and with abiding love and reverence do strive 
continually to honor his name and memory; and 

WHEREAS, it is the sense of the people of Illinois 
that a fitting and permanent memorial to the memory 
of the great Emancipator would be the consecration and 
dedication of the road that he traveled from the place 
of his birth in Kentucky through Indiana and thence to 
his tomb at Springfield to be known forever as the Lincoln 
Way; and 

WHEREAS, at its last session the legislature of 
Kentucky enacted a law naming the route over which 
Abraham Lincoln traveled from his home at Hodgenville 
to Indiana the 'Lincoln Way' and in the hope that the 
state of Indiana will join the states of Kentucky and Illinois 
in establishing and completing this fitting memorial, 
therefore be it 



RESOLVED: By the House of Representatives, the 
Senate concurring therein, that the Board of Trustees of 
the IlHnois State Historical Library be and they are hereby 
requestetl to make the necessary investigations to de- 
termine the exact route traveled by Abraham Lincoln in 
his removal from Kentucky to Hlinois, and to report to the 
General Assembly at as early a date as possible, and make 
such recommendations as they deem advisable to carry 
out the purpose of this resolution." 

In due course of time the legislature of Indiana, alive to public 
interest and mindful of its duty in the matter, enacted the follow- 
ing law, which became effective February 15, 1915: 

"WHEREAS, the state of Illinois has been endeavoring 
through a commission authorized by its legislature to 
determine and mark the route from the Wabash river 
westward through Illinois traveled by Abraham Lincoln 
and his father's family when they emigrated from Indiana 
in 1830, therefore, 

BE IT ENACTED; By the General Assembly of the 
State of Indiana: that the Governor shall within 30 days 
after this act takes effect appoint a commission consisting 
of two persons, who shall serve without compensation, 
but shall be allowed traveling, hotel, and other necessary 
expenses in connection with their investigation, which sums 
are to be paid on warrants approved by both members 
of the commission. 

It shall be the duty of said commission to make a careful 
inquiry, with a view to determining the route thiougli Indiana 
traveled l)y Abi'aham Lincoln and his father's family when they 
removed from their home near the town of (Jentryvillc. in Spencer 
County, Indiana, to Macon County, Illinois, in 1830. The 
commission shall have power to administer oaths and compel 
the attendance of witnesses and the production of books and news- 
l)aj)ers necessary to its investigation. After the conclusion of its 
inciuiry it shall report the results of its labors to the Governor 
before the next regular meeting of the General Assembly. 

The sum of five hundred dollais is luMcby aj)propriated for the 
purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act." 

In compliance with the foregoing law the Governor appointed 
Joseph M. Cravens, of Madison, and Jesse W. Wcik, of Green- 



castle, members of the commission. On April 21, 1915, the 
commission met in Indianapolis and organized by electing Mr. 
Cravens as president and Mr. Weik as secretary. 

Before entering upon the details of our investigation, it will 
not be inappropriate if we preface the same with a brief sketch 
of the Lincoln family, and a recital of the causes that led to their 
several migrations. 

A century ago Thomas Lincoln, a native of Virginia, was living 
in Hardin County, Kentucky. By trade a carpenter, he was 
nevertheless struggling to make a living by farming. The country 
about him was more or less barren, the timber small and of little 
value, and the soil so thin and poor he found it a never ending 
task to make both ends meet. The returns were meagre and the 
prospect anything but encouraging. Meanwhile, stories of great 
stretches of rich and unoccupied lands began to reach his ears, 
and finally despairing of any betterment in his condition so long 
as he remained in Kentucky, he resolved to leave the State and 
seek a more inviting home beyond the Ohio. 

In the fall of 1816, therefore, he began preparations for his 
removal. Building a flat-boat he loaded onto it his tools and 
personal effects, including in the invoice "four hundred gallons 
of whisky." He launched his craft on a tributary of Salt River 
known as the Rolling Fork, and slowly floated with the current 
till he reached the Ohio. At some point on the journey, which 
has thus far never been definitely fixed, his boat careened or cap- 
sized and his cargo slid into the water. By dint of great patience 
and labor, however, he succeeded in righting the vessel and 
recovering his tools and the greater part of the whiskey. Re- 
suming his journey he drifted down the Ohio as far as the mouth 
of Anderson's Creek, on the Indiana side, near the present town 
of Troy, where he tied up and went ashore. 

Here he disposed of his boat and placing his goods in the care 
of a settler named Francis Posey he struck out for the interior in 
quest of a suitable location for his new home. About sixteen 
miles northwest he found a tract of land that suited his fancy 
which he promptly marked out for himself. Then he made his 
way to Vincennes, where the United States Land Office was 
located, to make the required entry, and on his return to the land 
identified it by blazing the trees and piling up brush at the corners 
to establish the proper boundary lines. 

These preliminaries disposed of he returned to Kentucky for 
his family, making the journey on foot. The family was small, 



consisting of his wife, Nancy Hanks, a daughter, Sarah, and a 
son, Abraham. They were so poor that the backs of two horses 
were amply sufficient to transport themselves and their meagre 
array of worldly goods over the Kentucky hills to Indiana. In 
due time they reached and crossed the Ohio at the same point, 
ojiposite the mouth of Anderson Creek, where the head of the 
family had landed in the preceding fall. Here they lingered with 
Posey, who loaned them a wagon, into which they packed their 
belongings, including the whiskey, which, presunia})ly, had lain 
undisturbed in the latter's cellar. Then slowly picking and blazing 
their way through the dense forest they at last reached their 
destination, a wooded rise near one of the upper reaches of Little 
Pidgeon Creek, known as the Buckhorn Ranch, and distant about 
a mile and a half from what was later to be known as the village 
of Gentryville. The question of location having thus been dis- 
posed of, Thomas Lincoln set resolutely' to work to provide a shelter 
for his little family. 

Passing over the intervening period during which the wife 
and mother, Nancy Hanks, had died of that much dreaded malady, 
milk-sickness, the daughter Sarah, wedded to Aaron Grigsby, 
had passed away in the throes of childbirth, and Thomas Lincoln 
had married a second wife in the person of Sarah Bush Johnston, 
we come now to the winter of 1829. Another epidemic of the 
"milk-sickness" had visited the Gentryville neighborhood. Not 
only the people but cattle and sheep in great numbers were being 
carried away by it. A veritable stampede followed. No one 
a])preciated what inroads it could make in a community better 
than Thomas Lincoln, whose wife and two of her kindred, ten 
years before, had perished of the disease within one week. Again 
was he grieved and discouraged; again he listened to the rosy 
stories told by passing travelers of a new country full of wonderful 
attractions and great possibilities. It was the state of Illinois. 
Vast stretches of rich and fertile lands there were to be had on the 
easiest of terms. In fact, it was a veritabl(> paradise for the poor 
man. Why not go there and start anew? 

"The proposition," says one of Mr. Lincoln's biographers, 
"met with the general consent of the Lincoln contingent, and 
especially suited the roving and migratory spirit of Thomas 
Lincoln. He had been induced by the same rosy and alluring 
reports to leave Kentucky for Indiana. Four times had he movcnl 
since his first marriage, and in point of worldly goods he was no 
ix'tter oJT than wlieii he first started in life. Ilis land grotmed 



under the weight of a long neglected incumbrance, and like many 
of his neighbors he was ready for another change." 

Having disposed of his eighty acres of land to Charles Grigsby 
for a hundred and twenty-five dollars and his corn and hogs to 
his friend David Turnham (the corn "bringing ten cents a bushel" 
and the hogs being "lumped") he loaded his household goods 
into a wagon drawn by two yoke of oxen, and with his family 
set out early in March, 1830, for the prairies of central Illinois. 
The emigrant party comprised thirteen persons, and included 
Thomas and Sarah Bush Lincoln, their two sons, Abraham Lincoln 
and John D. Johnston, Squire Hall, his wife, Matilda Johnston, 
and son John; Dennis Hanks, his wife Elizabeth Johnston, and 
four children, Sarah J., Nancy M., Harriet A. and John Talbott. 
Hall and Hanks had married the two daughters of Mrs. Lincoln. 

"The journey was long and tedious" narrates one of Lincoln's 
biographers, "the streams swollen and the roads muddy almost 
to the point of impassibility. The rude, heavy wagon with its 
primitive wooden wheels creaked and groaned as it crawled through 
the woods and now and then stalled in the mud. Many were 
the delays, but none ever disturbed the equanimity of its pas- 
sengers. They were cheerful in the face of adversity, hopeful 
and determined; but none of them more so than the tall, ungainly 
youth in buck-skin breeches and coon-skin cap who wielded the 
gad and urged his patient oxen forward. As they entered the 
new State little did the curious people in the various towns through 
which they passed dream that the obscure and penniless driver 
who yelled his commands to the oxen would yet become the 
Chief Magistrate of the greatest nation of modern times." 

So much for history. And now let us tell the story of our 
investigation and recount the reasons that have led us to determine 
what particular route these obscure and forlorn emigrants must 
have followed when they made their way in March, 1830,, through 
our State from the Ohio to the Wabash; more specifically that part 
of the journey which stretches between the Linclon Farm near 
Gentryville, In Spencer County, and the city of Vincennes, where 
they crossed the Wabash into Illinois. 

One of the most significant and convincing items in the array 
of facts we have succeeded in gathering comes from Abraham 
Lincoln himself. It appears that one morniiigearly in February, 1861, 
a few days before his departure for Washington to begin the duties 
of the great office to which he had been elected, he left his home 
in Springfield to pay a farewell visit to his aged step-mother, who 



was then living in Coles County, Illinois. He reached the town 
of Charleston in the evening. The next moi-ning he started in a 
buggy for Farmington, a village about eight miles southwest, 
where the old lady was then living with a daughter. His only 
companion was Augustus H. Chapman, whose wife was the daugh- 
ter of Dennis Hanks, and therefore the grand-daughter of Mr. 
Lincoln's step-mother. Mr. Chapman, who died recently, lived 
for many years in Charleston, a trustworthy, intelligent and 
truthful man — in fact, no one stood higher in the esteem and good 
will of his fellow citizens. He had Ijeon an officer in the Union 
Army, having served throughout the Civil War as Lieutenant 
Colonel of the 54t]i Illinois Inf. Vols, and left a military record 
alike praiseworth}- and brilliant. Several years ago he furnished 
to an interviewer the following account of what took place and 
what was said by Mr. Lincoln when they rode togeth(>r in the 
buggy to Farmington: "I married the daughter of Dennis Hanks, 
and the latter has been living with us for many years, have often 
talked to him aliout the removal from Indiana to Illinois in 1830 
also with Sarah Bush Lincoln, his mother-in-law, who also lived 
in my family for some time prior to her death in 1869. One 
evening in Fe]:)ruary, 1861, Mr. Lincoln arrived in Charleston to 
visit his father's grave and also his step-moth(?r, who haj^pened to 
be at the home of a daughter near the village of Farmington in 
the country. He spent the night at the residence of Thomas A. 
Marshall, who was a State Senator residing in Charleston. The 
next morning early he walked over to the home of his cousin Den- 
nis Hanks, after which he and I got into a buggy and started to 
drive to Farmington. Our conversation during the ride was 
devoted largely to family history. Among other things we got 
to talking about the journey from Indiana: he agreed substan- 
tially with Dennis Hanks as to the route they took; said they went 
from Gentryville to Jasper, thence to Washington and on to Vin- 
cennes, where they crossed the Wabash; thence to Lawi-cnceville, 
Illinois, where they turned north and pushed on to Palestine, in 
Crawford county. At Palestine they found a great many people 
drawn there by the land ofhcc. They kv]i\ on paralleling the 
river to Darwin, where they left the Wabash behind them. 

At this point they set off in a northwesterly direction, passing 
through Hichwoods in Clark County; thence to a point about 
six miles west of Charleston called Dead Plan's Grove; thence 
north Ihiough Nelsonvillc, Moultrie County, to Decatur, where 
they stopped." 



9 

The facts thus narrated by Col. Chapman were communicated 
by him to the secretary of this commission Jan. 3, 1896, and the 
above version of the interview is copied from the original notes 
made at the time. Included with the latter MS. is the following 
memorandum of a statement by Harriet A. Hanks, the wife of 
Col. Chapman, who was one of the emigrants from Indiana in 
1830: 

Name, Harriet Chapman, daughter of Dennis Hanks and 
grand-daughter of Sarah Bush Lincoln; says she was born in 
Indiana and when about four years old accompanied her parents 
and the Lincolns when they removed to Illinois about 1830; 
her grandmother told her the first printing press and the first 
Indians she ever saw were at Vincennes; that on the way she (the 
grandmother) and her daughters rode horseback part of the way, 
the children being in the wagon; that the saddles on which they 
rode were bought with money that was due the old lady from her 
first husband's estate, and which she rode to Kentucky to collect. 

It will be remembered that in the summer of 1865, Mr. W. H. 
Herndon, who had been Mr. Lincoln's law partner in Springfield, 
visited southeastern Illinois, southern Indiana, and central 
Kentucky in quest of material for a life of Lincoln which he 
expected to write, but which was not published till the spring 
of 1889. When in Charleston, Illinois, he interviewed the Chap- 
mans, Dennis Hanks, Sarah Bush Lincoln and others, accumulat- 
ing a rich store of material all of which has been placed at the 
disposal of the commission. This data which was collected over 
half a centurj^ ago when the facts were fresh in the minds of those 
who communicated them is of the greatest historic value. But 
strange to relate although Mr. Herndon's researches were pro- 
found and exhaustive he seems not to have learned or, at least, 
put on record the particular route chosen by the Lincoln's when 
they emigrated from Indiana. Col. Chapman's contribution to 
Mr. Herndon's undertaking was very voluminous and of great 
weight, owing to his intimate relations with Dennis Hanks, Sarah 
Bush Lincoln, and even Abraham Lincoln himself. With a few 
trifling exceptions his testimony is almost entirely in his own hand- 
writing. Here is a brief extract from an account by him of the 
journey to Illinois copied from the original MS. and written in 
September, 1865: 

"Thomas Lincoln moved from Indiana to Macon County, 
Illinois, in March, 1830, in a large four-horse wagon drawn by 
two yoke of oxen, the only wagon he ever owned. He brought 



10 

with him some stock cattle, a horse or two, three beds and bed- 
ding, one bureau, one table, one clothes chest, one set of chairs, 
cooking utensils, etc., three families came together, Lincoln's, 
Hall's and Hanks'. Squire Hall and Dennis Hanks had married 
sisters, the two step-daughters of Thomas Lincoln. Abe Lincoln 
drove his father's ox team. The waters were very high at the 
time and they came near losing their team, wagon, and contents 
in crossing the Okaw or Kaskaskia River." 

A word here as to Dennis Hanks. He was born in 1799 
and died in October, 1892, and with the exception of Abraham 
Lincoln was probably the only member of that band of hardy 
pioneers who migrated to Illinois in 1830 who could write; at least 
who could put on paper anything in the nature of a connected 
statement of facts. He is the best and in fact the onlj^ authority 
we have for our limited knowledge of Mr. Lincoln's early days. 
Mr. Herndon realizing the value as well as the importance of 
Hanks's testimony examined him with the skill and precision of 
a lawyer, the result being a contribution to the story of Mr. 
Lincoln's life without an equal in point of accuracy and historic 
interest. 

Twenty years after Mr. Herndon had cross examined Hanks 
the latter came under the observation of Mr. Weik, the secretary 
of the commission, to whom Mr. Herndon had turned over his 
entire collection of letters and papers, including everj^thing written 
by Hanks. Mr. Weik held frequent interviews with Hanks in 
Charleston and Paris, Illinois, in which places he alternately made 
his home with relatives. Following is a copy of an entry written 
by Mr. Weik in his dairy Thursday, October 28, 1886, in which 
Hanks refers to the migration of the Lincolns from Indiana in 
1830: 

"At noon reached Paris, where 1 met Mrs. Chapman and her 
father Dennis Hanks; latter told about life of Lincoln in Indiana 
and Illinois; said he came to Ind. from Ky, in year after Lincoln's 
arrival but accompanied them from Ind. to Ills; they went from 
Gentryville to Jasper, thence to Petersburg and Vincennes where 
crossed the Wabash. Hanks showed watch given him by Lincoln 
when he visited Washington during war; was of silver and had 
inscription from Lincoln as Prest. etc." 

In addition to what has been detailed above the commission 
has been furnished the testimony of another witness, one to whom 



11 

Mr, Hanks also communicated his recollection of the route through 
Indiana. This gentleman is Mr. James H. McCall, a resident 
of Winterhaven, Florida, who writes as follows: 

"Winterhaven, Fla., Dec. 30, 1914. 
Mr. Jesse W. Weik, 

Greencastle, Ind. 
Dear Sir : 

During the 80's I was engaged in traveling through southern 
Indiana and Illinois and frequently visited the burial place of 
Nancy Hanks and other early pioneers of that locality. Sub- 
sequently^, I think in 1886, I became acquainted with Dennis 
Hanks at Charleston, Ills, who gave me a description of their 
trip from Gentryville to Vincennes. I can only recall portions 
of the details but I do remember that he said they crossed White 
River at what is now Petersburg. Some of the party were on 
horseback and carried fodder for their animals bound on behind. 
Mr. Hanks became very much interested when I told him I had 
visited the grave of his sister (?). You will probably recall that 
through the generosity of a few Indiana citizens, admirers of 
Mr. Lincoln, an iron fence was erected. The old gentleman seem- 
ed very solicitous to know for sure that 'that stun' was placed 
at the right grave, and believed he could tell if he could go there. 
He showed me his watch presented to him by Pres. Lincoln of 
which he seemed very proud. 

Thinking these few incidents may be of interest to you I take 
great pleasure in sending them. 

Very respectfully, 

JAMES H. McCALL." 

Later, in compliance with a suggestion to that effect Mr. 
McCall put his story into the form of sworn testimony as follows: 

"TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN. 

Be it known that during the summer of 1886 or 1887 accord- 
ing to the best recollection of the undersigned I, James H. McCall, 
met in the city of Charleston, Ills. Mr. Dennis Hanks, and there 
held a conversation with him regarding the early life of the 
Lincoln family, their residence in southern Indiana and removal 
to Illinois, in what year he did not say or if he did I have for- 
gotten it, 



12 

During our conversation he said they travolod north from 
Gentry ville, Ind., to Petersburg, where they crossed the White 
River, thence to Vincennes, where they crossed the Wal^ash. 
Owing to the lapse of time many incidents related bj^ Hanks are 
lost to my memory, but I am certain that no reference was made 
to any other route or crossing of rivers than those stated. 

(Signed) JAMES H. McCALL. 

Subscribed and sworn to before me a notary PubHc this.the 15th 
day of May, 1915. 

J. WALKER POPE, 
(SEAL) Notary Public. 

It will be observed that Col. Chapman in his testimony inti- 
mates that Mr. Lincoln's recollection of the route of travel from 
Indiana to Illinois is in "substantial accord" with that of Dennis 
Hanks, but a comparison of the statements of the two shows that 
if Chapman's recollection of Mr. Lincoln's account, that the route 
led from Jasper through Washington is correct then there is a 
variance, for according to the testimony of the two witnesses, 
Weik and McCall, Dennis Hanks declared the route led from 
Jasper northwest through Ireland and Otwell to Petersburg. 

Thus far it will be ol)served that we have confined ourselves 
to testimony emanating from those who were membees of the 
eniigrant party. There are however other sources of information. 
For instance there are good and cogent reasons in suj^port of the 
contention that when the emigrants set out from their farm near 
Gentryville thej^ went north through Dale and thence in the 
same general direction to Jasper, or what was then known as 
Enlows Mill on the Patoka River. An examination of the countrj'- 
made by the commission in October, 1915, between the Lincoln 
Farm and the town of Dale shows that within the exception of 
a tributary of Little Pigeon, which at best is an insignificant 
branch across the roadway, there are no streams of any conse- 
quence between the points named. The case would have been 
different had the Lincolns turned northwestward and endeavored 
to make Petersburg by way of Selvin. In that event it would 
have been necessary to cross the north fork of Little Pigeon and 
also Pokeberry Creek, l)oth of which including their approaches 
through the bottoms, were streams of no inconsiderable size for 
an ox team and a heavily loaded wagon to cross in the month of 
March, especially before the days of graded roads. In addition 



13 

we know that the Lincohis were in the habit of passing to and 
fro between their home and Dale, or Ehzabeth as it was 
formerly known. Mr. Herndon demonstrated that fact when he 
visited the Lincoln home and the Gentryville neighborhood in 
1865. At that time David Turnham, to whom the Lincoln's 
sold their corn and hogs when they left for Illinois, was living 
but a short distance from Dale, and likewise William Woods and 
his daughter Elizabeth, at whose house the junior Lincoln was a 
frequent visitor. From Dale northward past Huntingburg the 
commission found high ground and no large streams save Patoka 
River, which stretches across the country, from a point as far east 
as Paoli and as far west as the Wabash,' and which would have 
had to be crossed somewhere by the traveler if he expected to 
reach Vincennes. 

In 1865 David Turnham told Mr. Herndon that a road from 
Rockport to Bloomington passed through Gentryville in 1823, 
but the records of the State indicate an earlier existence than that. 
December 31st, 1821, the General Assembly enacted a law, one 
of whose sections reads as follows: 

"Sec. 7. That the road from Rockport to Portersville, thence 
to Hindostan, thence to Bloomington be and the same is established 
in length eighty miles; that the sum of five thousand four hundred 
and seventeen dollars be appropriated and that Joseph D. Clem- 
ents of Martin County, Michael Buskirk of Monroe and Sam 
Snyder of Spencer be appointed commissioners, etc." 

That the road from Rockport through Gentryville and Jasper 
was an early and generally used thorofare is also attested by the 
routes over which the mails were carried during that period. 
The following from the records of the Post Office Department 
at Washington is not without significance: 

"June 30, 1825, Mail Route 167 
From Rockport by Porterville to Washington. 
Once in two weeks, 55 miles. Leave Rock- 
port every other Wednesday, 1 P. M., and 
Washington Thurs. 6 P. M." 

"Oct. 10, 1827, Mail Route 486 
From Rockport b^^ Gentrj^'s Store and 
Portersville to Washington once a week. 
Leave Rockport every Sat. 6 A. M. ; leave 
Wash, every Thurs. 6. A. M. 



"July 25, 1829, Mail Koute 18 . 
From Rockport by Gentry's Store and 
Portersville to Washington once a week. 
Leaves Rockport every Tuesday noon; 
leave Washington Thurs. 6 A. M. 

In 1834 a mail from Petersburg once a week went 
eastward to Jasper and Paoli, length of route 54 miles, 
carrier Ezra Chapman. 

In 1834 another mail once a week left Rockport 
passing by Gentry's Store, Jasper and 
Petersburg; length of route 64— | miles, 
carrier Ezra Chapman. 

Having reached and crossed the Patoka at or near the ford 
at Enlow's Mill — now Jasper — to which point that river had been 
declared navigable by the legislature of Indiana in 1829, the Lin- 
coln emigrants were now in that section of the country traversed 
by the widely known Buffalo Trace. This road or trace which 
followed the path made by the myriads of buffalo, who for ages, 
at certain seasons of the year had made their way from the 
prairies of the northwest to the salt licks of Kentucky, became, 
in time, the main line of travel between the two United States 
Land Offices in Indiana, Jeffersonville and Vincennes. Over 
it passed the thousands of pioneers who settled in and developed 
the southern half of the Hoosier State. It led from Louisville 
to Vincennes, was surveyed for a pike in 1834 and S654,411 spent 
on it. From Paoli westward to Vincennes there were two trails, 
one via Washington and the other by way of Portersville, Otwell 
and Petersburg. After 1820 both were used as stage lines. 
From Jasper a road ran northwest intercepting the Buffalo Trace 
at or near Otwell, from which point the former led to Petersburg 
and thence to Vincennes. This was the route over which the mail 
was carried from Vincennes to Paoli in 1834 as indicated by the 
records of the Post Office Department at Washington, D. C. 

After leaving the Patoka behind them the question naturally 
arises whether the Lincolns continued north to Portersville, crossed 
the East Fork of White River and made their way thence to Wash- 
ington, where it was iircessaiy to cross \Miit(^ River again in order 
to reach Vincennes. While ap))ar('ntl>' in accord with Col. 
Chapman's account of Mi-. Lincoln's iccollcct ion of the events 



15 

of 1830 might the latter not have used the word Petersburg and 
Cljapman afterwards erroneously recorded it as Washington, 
and might not the President-elect have said Washington when he 
really meant Petersburg. The commission drove over the routes 
between Jasper and Washington and between Jasper and Paters- 
burg, and if topography alone be the consideration we cannot re- 
frain from believing that the average traveler as between the 
two would have chosen the Petersburg route. We are therefore 
of the opinion that after reaching the north bank of the Patoka the 
emigrants set out in a northwestwardly direction passing through 
or near Ireland, Otwell (where their road joined the Buffalo Trace), 
Algiers and Petersburg, Here, or near here, they crossed White 
River and made their way to Vincennes. 

After leaving Jasper several other routes existed over which 
they might have reached their destination. They could have 
continued their way northward to Porters ville and then turned 
west following the Buffalo Trace, keeping on the south side of 
White River to Petersburg; or they might have stopped on this 
latter road at a point a few miles east of Petersburg called High 
Banks and crossed the East Fork of White River where it is ford- 
able at times; or they might have turned to the right at Peters- 
burg and followed the road which lead northward to Washing- 
ton. In all but one of these cases, however, it would have been 
necessary to cross White River twice. 

The great and convincing argument in support of the Peters- 
burg route is that it necessitated crossing White River but once. 
This fact was undoubtedly known to Thomas Lincoln because he 
had already made one round trip between Gentryville and Vin- 
cennes and possibly another. Ferrying the rivers in those days 
involved more or less expense, so that people as poor as the 
Lincolns would naturally be inclined to avoid the outlay when- 
ever possible. 

Another reason why the Lincolns chose the Jasper — Peters- 
burg route is because the land is high — in fact, a long ridge, a 
veritable water-shed stretches between the points named. Notice 
any good map of the State and you will find that there is no stream 
worthy of representation on a map to cross. White River on 
the north side of the ridge flows west; Flat Creek on the south 
side east, thus indicating a perfect water-shed. According to 
State Geologist Cox the plateau west of Ireland in Dubois County 
is 120 feet above White River and, according to maps of surveys 
made by Charles D. Walcott, director of the United States Geolog- 



16 

ical Survey, the ground from Jasper to Petersburg gradually 
rises. Ireland is 479 feet above sea level, Otwell 496; a shqrt 
distance away where the Buffalo Trace intercepts it is 502, and at 
Algiers it is 527. 

We have given much time and study to such maps of Indiana 
published about the period of the Lincoln migration as we have 
been able to obtain. They were made mainly in the eastern states 
and for the use of travelers to the west. In some cases they are 
slightly inaccurate, but taken as a whole they are reasonably 
correct and faithful to the facts. At all events they are the only 
record evidence we have of the roads and streams of that period. 
The records of the commissioners courts in Spencer and Dubois 
Counties — from which source it would have been possible to 
obtain evidence of the existence and direction of the public roads — 
have been destroyed by fire, so that in the absence of competent 
parole testimony we must fall back on the maps. 

The earliest published maj) of Indiana we have been able to 
secure is one by Anthony Finley made in 1820. It shows a road 
following the Ohio River from the mouth of Big Pigeon past 
Rockport and Troy to Fredonia and Corydon. Another road is 
the Buffalo Trace leading from Vincennes through Washington 
to Paoli and from Vincennes through Petersburg and Porters- 
ville to Paoli, and still another is a road from New Harmony 
through Princeton, Petersbuig, and Washington to Bloomfield. 

A map published by S. Augustus Mitchell in 1831 shows that 
a road beginning at Rockport extended northward passing through 
Jasper, Portersville and thence to Mt. Pleasant, a town near the 
east line of Daviess County. At Jasper this road was intersected 
by three other roads, one from Petersburg to Paoli, another from 
Fredonia and another from lioonville. 

Another map by Mitciu>ll in 1834 shows a road from H()('k])ort 
through Jasper and Poit(>rsville to Mt. Pleasant, a road from 
Boonville to Jasper, joining the Rockport road at a point south 
of Jasper and not fai' from Huntington and another road from 
Princeton ending at Jasp(>r. 

A map by S. Morrison jniblished in Cincinnati and certified 
by the Surveyor CJeneral of the United States M. T. Williams, 
March 3, 1835, shows a road froin Rockport to Jasper. It does 
not touch Portersville but goes b(>yond Jasper on the south and 
east sides of the East Fork of White River to a place in Martin 
County called the Rapids, where it intersects the upper branch of 
the Vincennes and New Albany turnpike. 



17^ 

A map by J. H. Colton, 1836, shows the road from Rockport 
by way of Gentryville and Dale to Jasper. Here it divides, one 
fork going to Washington by way of Portersville, the other north- 
west by way of a place named Delectable (now Algiers) to Peters- 
burg. At the latter place it is crossed by a road from Princeton 
to Washington. 

Another map by Mitchell issued in 1837 shows the road from 
Rockport to Jasper, Portersville and Mt. Pleasant. Another road 
starting at Jasper joins the Vincennes and New Albany road at 
Paoli. The road from Petersburg reaches Jasper by way of 
Portersville. 

A map issued by Colton in 1838 indicates three roads from the 
Ohio, one starting at Troy, another at Rockport and still another 
at Newburgh. They join at a point in Dubois County, near the 
present town of Huntingburg, from which place one road goes 
north to Jasper, thence to Portersville and Mt. Pleasant, and 
another to Washington. At Jasper a road which starts at Cory- 
don passes through the villages of Ireland and Otwell, crosses 
the White River at or near Petersburg and goes thence north- 
west to Vincennes. 

Although the maps do not so indicate, the records of the land 
department in the office of the Auditor of State show that license 
for what was probably the first ferry on White River was issued 
to Nathan Harlan in 1805, thus tencling to prove that travel to 
Vincennes by way of Petersburg must have began at a very early 
date. 

In view, therefore, of the facts set forth in the foregoing sum- 
mary of our investigations and after a careful inspection of the 
country lying between Troy on the Ohio, where the Lincolns 
first set foot on the soil of Indiana, and Vincennes on the Wabash, 
where they emerged from the State, we are of the opinion that 
after these hardy and venturesome emigrants bade farewell to 
their cabin home near Gentryville in March, 1830, they moved 
northward through Dale to Jasper, thence northwestwardly through 
the villages of Ireland, Otwell, and Algiers to Petersburg, at or near 
which place they crossed White River and then pushed on to Vin- 
cennes, by the most direct route. 

Without dwelling unduly on the delicacy and magnitude of 
our task, we take this means of expressing our thanks to those who 
have so handsomely and magnanimously aided us in our under- 
taking. We are especially grateful to Judge R. E. Roberts and 
the officials of Spencer County; to Messrs. Williams and Barker 



18 

of Warrick Count}' ; to Messrs. A. L. Gray, George R. Wilson and 
Judge J. L. Bretz of Dubois County; to Messrs. J. W. Wilson, 
R. M. Gray and John C. Chaille of Pike County; to Messrs. 
Chas. Siefert and Mayor McCartney of Washington, Daviess 
County; to the Hon. James Wade Emison, the Hon. James M. 
House, and the County Officers of Knox County: to Capt. J. W. 
Wartman of Evansville; to the officers of the State of Indiana at 
Indianapolis including, especially. His Excellency the Governor, 
the Auditor and the Librarian, Prof. Brown, and in a word to the 
seemingly endless number of kind friends everywhere. The list 
is too long for insertion here. Assisted and sustained by their 
generous and unstinted co-operation we have been able to reach 
a truthful, just and we trust satisfactory conclusion — without it 
we could not hope for success. 

Very respectfullj^, 

JOSEPH M. CRAVENS, Chairman. 

JESSE W. WEIK, Secretary. 



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